Over the Pass
by Joe Rader Roberts
Joe Rader Roberts (1925-1982) was the official Texas State Artist in 1974-1975. Born in Lockhart, Texas, Roberts served in the Merchant Marines from 1943-1945 before enrolling in the California School of Fine Arts in San Francisco. In 1949 he moved back to Houston, working as a commercial artist and illustrator.
As an artist, he enjoyed depicting the historic frontier and creating grand western narrative paintings. His wife, Nelda Zwerneman Roberts, was also an artist and several of his paintings of Texas Rangers hang in the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame. His son, Gary Lynn Roberts, is also a noted Western artist.
This large oil painting, Over the Pass, depicts a stagecoach driven by six horses traveling through a snowy landscape. This painting and several other works by Roberts are in the museum collection.